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American Morning

Blizzard, Day Two; Gov. Rendell Slams NFL Game Postponement; Snow Chaos at the Airport

Aired December 28, 2010 - 07:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN GUEST ANCHOR: Good morning, everybody. It is Tuesday, December 28th, Two days after the big blizzard. I'm Jim Acosta.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Blizzard day two. We're still digging out. I'm Kiran Chetry. We do have a lot to talk about this morning because even though the blizzard is gone, at least from the east coast, they're still playing catch-up this morning at major airports. A lot of people still stranded, still snowed in, and still waiting and losing patience this morning.

We're live at LaGuardia and outside where they're digging out from in some cases underneath 30 inches of snow.

ACOSTA: And tires spinning, subways stranded, city plucks plowing into cars instead of plowing snow. New York City's Mayor Michael Bloomberg getting slammed for that slow and sloppy response some say to the storm. A video surfacing on YouTube is not helping matters. More backlash from the blizzard straight ahead.

CHETRY: And one governor says we're a nation of wusses because of the NFL's decision to postpone a football game because of bad weather. He says they would have played in China. Eagles fan and Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell uncensored, ahead.

ACOSTA: But first, getting moving again following a Christmas weekend blizzard that paralyzed the northeast after more than 4,000 canceled flights, 32 inches of snow, 80-mile-per-hour wind gusts in some parts, we've been talking about this. There's finally progress at the airports.

CHETRY: But there's no guarantee, unfortunately. All three of the New York City's major airports are now open after being shut down on one of the busiest travel days of the year. But the waiting is not over for everyone. And airlines are warning that it could take them days to basically catch up and to be able to get everyone home.

Allan Chernoff is live for us at LaGuardia this morning. And last time we checked in with you, you said it was 90 something flights canceled already?

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you can bet that number is well over 100 at this point. And it will climb through the day.

The fact is that right now on the ground here at LaGuardia, there are not even one quarter the number of planes there usually are at this hour. So obviously we can't have many departures. So the cancellations are going to mount.

But nonetheless, on the bright side -- look, the airport is now fully open. The planes can come in. That's going to be happening through the day. So gradually we will return to normal. But we won't return entirely to normal today. So as a result, many of the passengers who are here. They may have to spend another night.

One gentleman who we really, really hope will not have to do that is Mike McDaniel. I met mike back on Sunday. He's now working on his third day here at LaGuardia airport.

MIKE MCDANIEL, STRANDED TRAVELER: That's correct.

CHERNOFF: You're getting to know this place real well.

MCDANIEL: Too well. Too well.

CHERNOFF: Last night, another night on the cot here at the airport?

MCDANIEL: That's correct.

CHERNOFF: I have to tell you, Mike has just been so good-natured about this. You haven't been showing any frustration at all.

MCDANIEL: It is what it is. You know, the airlines didn't do it. It's just an act of god. It was weather and you have to live with it. This is the northeast in the wintertime.

CHERNOFF: That's right. Well, Mike is trying to get to Charlotte, North Carolina. He's hoping to get a flight near Charlotte today and then drive the rest of the way. Could have been there if he'd driven, but what are you going to do? Back to the studio.

CHETRY: You know, he's definitely not from New York. Just say well, there's nothing you can do about it. New Yorkers are like, wait a minute, why didn't this happen? Why didn't they plan ahead? So he's taking it in stride.

ACOSTA: Allan Chernoff, the mayor of LaGuardia airport this morning. Thanks. Appreciate it.

A British Airways flight that's been sitting on the tarmac all morning is reportedly headed to a gate. The flight arrived from Heathrow airport in London last night. Several tweets say the plane has found a parking spot and passengers are closer to finally getting off, those tweets from the passengers. So that's a pretty good source there.

And keep in mind those passengers had already been on a trans-Atlantic flight before the seven-hour delay.

CHETRY: Yes. The New York Bureau chief form "The Economist" magazine is the one who's been doing this tweeting, and he had written earlier, "It's now just a brief wait for immigration and we should be on our way." Then he wrote, "Maybe I was tempting fate by saying that because we are still on the plane." So hopefully they will be de- planing shortly.

ACOSTA: We'll keep our fingers crossed.

CHETRY: Meanwhile, many New York residents, especially those living outside of Manhattan and the outer boroughs, want to know why they can't get to work this morning. And they want answers from Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The city last night said it may need another 24 hours to clear all the snow. Many cars still lie abandoned. There you see those cars are -- that's going to be a big dig, let's put it that way.

Even the subway's normally reliable subway system was crippled with as many as 500 people stuck. They were there for hours without food, water, or bathrooms.

ACOSTA: And if you think it looks bad in the Big Apple, there is a back-breaking task ahead across the river in New Jersey where they got 30 inches of snow and foot-foot-high snow drifts.

CHETRY: Let's check in with Chris Knowles this morning. How does it look?

CHRIS KNOWLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kiran. We still have some of the snow left for you and Jim if you have your snow shovels and want a little cardio out here.

You know, believe it or not, there are still some sidewalks just like this in and around the city. Not only in the five boroughs, but out in the suburbs. It still gets kind of heavy out here. They took about 17 snowplows in the town of Lyndhurst, a town of about 20,000 people. They had 150 tons of sought on the ground.

They also used the twitter and Facebook and a reverse 911 system to alert the residents. So they had about 16,000 people on the list, they had them informed of the snow, where to park, where not to park within an hour.

I want you to talk to my friend Anna is from the next town over.

ANNA ZUFFANTI, RESIDENT, NORTH ARLINGTON, NEW JERSEY: Good morning, how are you?

KNOWLES: Anna, I heard you had one heck of a time with your car the other day. Tell us what happened.

ZUFFANTI: Well, I was shoveling myself out at 4:00 a.m. in the morning from 4:00 to 6:00 a.m., I was shoveling myself out. After I shoveled myself out, I had nowhere else to go because plows didn't come to shovel the rest of the snow. So I couldn't go to work. I was out of work all day yesterday.

KNOWLES: Hopefully the boss is understanding. You lived in the area for quite some time, have you ever seen the snow fall like this?

ZUFFANTI: No, I haven't. In 1996 we seen snowfall, but not as bad as this. KNOWLES: Be safe today driving going to work.

ZUFFANTI: Have a great day.

KNOWLES: Thank you.

Listen, even though as we said the plows have been out, it's still very dicey on the roads. We have a winter weather advisory in effect in and around the city today. That's due to blowing snow and black ice. Out and about in the northeast today, take it nice and slow. This snow not going anywhere for a little while, Jim and Kiran.

CHETRY: Yes, I feel bad she was out there shoveling. I mean, she didn't have a nice strapping young neighbor to come out and shovel for her?

ACOSTA: Or strapping young reporter?

(LAUGHTER)

KNOWLES: Let me tell you -- that's right. You know, if I'd known about it, I'd been at her house at 3:30. Maybe next time.

(LAUGHTER)

CHETRY: Chris, thanks so much.

ACOSTA: Thank, Chris.

CHETRY: From zero to 32 inches in about 30 seconds, we love this iReport from Michael Black. He put some thought in this. He set up a camera in his backyard during the snowstorm on Sunday. It took a photo once every five minutes for 20 hours and then he put together some of the coolest time lapse video of the blizzard. Here it is.

ACOSTA: Look at that. That is just incredible.

CHETRY: He keeps going in there to dig out the clock. Other than that, there's the yardstick.

ACOSTA: And then the yardstick goes on in. Wow, I could watch that all morning. Great stuff.

CHETRY: I smell a YouTube hit.

(WEATHER BREAK)

CHETRY: Sunday's NFL game between the Minnesota Vikings and the Philadelphia Eagles was postponed because of the snow. And Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell said, quote, "We've become a nation of wusses." Is he right? We're going to get another sports guy, a football star to weigh in in just a minute

ACOSTA: And a tow truck debacle. We have the amazing YouTube video showing a New York City snow removal crew attempting to tow a front- end loader and banging up a parked car in the process. Ouch. It's going to -- that's not going to -- that is not going to be fixed up with a little bit of spray paint and duct tape there. So we'll get an update on that.

CHETRY: You'll need a big pops a dent.

ACOSTA: Exactly. It's 11 minutes after the hour. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: Well, New York City's response to the blizzard of 2010 is coming under fire this morning. And to add insult to injury, a video has surfaced on YouTube. Check this out. This is unbelievable. It shows a New York City sanitation truck tow truck in Brooklyn heights trying to free a snow-bound front-loader.

CHETRY: The only problem is there's a car in the way.

ACOSTA: Yes, there's a big car in the way. Check this out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my god. Are you out of your mind?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Not exactly textbook towing. And, of course, adding insult to injury, the parked Ford Explorer getting crunched reportedly belongs to New York City's buildings department. We put in a call to the city's sanitation department for a comment this morning, and a spokesperson for the commissioner says they're looking into it.

ACOSTA: Yes, I think we tried to get them on the phone and they said they were in a briefing.

CHETRY: That was now. So we'll see.

ACOSTA: We'll see how that briefing goes.

CHETRY: Yes, because there's a lot of people that are upset about the situation. And --

ACOSTA: Yes. It's not just about Manhattan, it's about these outer boroughs and folks there still waiting.

CHETRY: And not to blame the people that were out there trying to help in the mess, I mean, many of them working 14-hour shifts. They have said they were undermanned for that.

ACOSTA: They're doing as much as they can.

CHETRY: Well, critics have called the NFL the no fun league. Well you can add Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell to that list. In a radio interview, he blasted the NFL for postponing this past Sunday's Eagles/Vikings game because of the nor'easter headed up the coast at the time. ACOSTA: That's right. An article in the "Philadelphia Daily News" by Will Bunch titled "The Wimps Who Stole Christmas" really hit home with the governor. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOICE OF GOV. ED RENDELL (D), PENNSYLVANIA: I'm saying we've become a nation of wusses. The Chinese are kicking our butt in everything. And Will Bunch is right. Did you read what Will Bunch wrote?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think Will Bunch is full of crap to be honest with you. I read that story.

RENDELL: I think it's a Pulitzer Prize-winning story. If this was in China, do you think the Chinese would have called off the game? He's right. The people would have been marching down to the stadium. They would have walked, and they would have been doing calculus on the way down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And joining us on the phone now to talk about this is former NFL running back Jamal Anderson.

Jamal, the call on the field is under review you might say. What's your take on this? What do you think? Did they make the right call?

JAMAL ANDERSON, FMR. NFL PLAYER (via telephone): Well, I think they made the right call. I mean, it's an entertaining article. Obviously, Ed Rendell is fired up. He's a big-time Philadelphia fan. And I'm sure the governor is thinking about some of the classic games in the NFL.

ACOSTA: Oh, yes.

ANDERSON: Obviously, you think the Ice Bowl in '67. It was a huge game in '81 where the Chargers and Bengals played. Of course, there was the tough game in '02 with the Raiders and the Patriots. All of these games occurred in adverse conditions. But you've got to consider the type of storm that we're dealing with and the fact that the NFL does not want to see any of its patrons or people who are excited about coming to this football game getting injured along the way. It was a tremendous storm.

It's funny, though. It is funny. I don't think we're wimps. Listen, the Chicago Bears and the Vikings just played in awful conditions. And the NFL will have games go on as long as it does not put anybody in a situation where they can be hurt.

CHETRY: It was interesting, though. The call was made -- I mean, oftentimes, I mean -- look, the forecast may or may not come to fruition.

ANDERSON: Right.

CHETRY: And they did call this off. Do you think there might have been another reason besides just concerns about the weather?

ANDERSON: Well, I think you're looking at what's happening in all of the different areas. I mean, you had the Giants, unfortunately, lose a game in Green Bay. They're still in Green Bay as of right now. I know the Jets were trying to get back to New York. All of the airports in that area in the northeast area from New York to New Jersey, all of these airports have been shut down.

CHETRY: Right.

ANDERSON: There's so many people and representatives from the NFL who traveled to certain games. I think in general, you're looking at an awful storm and you're going, OK, are we really going to try to play a football game in this when we do have the modern advantages that we do now to forecast these things and know what we're going to have to deal with? This is not the '60s anymore. You know, you've got to be smart about these things.

Hey, selfishly, Kiran, you know, you're an Eagles fan, but I'm like, look at the NFL game on Tuesday? Why complain?

ACOSTA: That's a good point. But as an objective Redskins fan, Jamal, I have to ask the question --

ANDERSON: Yes.

ACOSTA: -- is it possible that the NFL is just trying to keep Michael Vick healthy so he can make it through the playoffs? And they didn't want to hurt him on Sunday? Is that possibly what happened?

ANDERSON: You know, I wouldn't -- you know, the thing about that is, the thing about that is he's going to have three games in 12 days as a result of this game moving to Tuesday.

ACOSTA: That's true.

ANDERSON: So, you know, Philadelphia Eagles fans, I don't think they're happy about this at all. I'm sure, you know, people then want to be sitting in a stadium when there was going to be a blizzard or the snow was supposed to be forecast to be so bad at the time. But, again, three games in 12 days is a lot on Michael Vick.

CHETRY: Yes.

ANDERSON: And there's been the issues of him physically and the hits he's been taking. ACOSTA: Right.

ANDERSON: He's not the biggest guy.

CHETRY: Right. Well, I've got to say this article is pretty funny. He also went on to say, Will Bunch said it's perfectly OK to channel your inner Rush Limbaugh and say that the nanny state killed this football game. But besides the fans trying to make it there and as we know 36,000 plus showed up in '48 to watch them take the NFL championship. What about the players? What is it like to be playing out there in that type of blizzard-type condition?

ANDERSON: Well, you know, again, I hate to be selfish, but I'm a running back. When you have these type of conditions, there's a chance that we're going to get the ball a lot during the course of the game.

ACOSTA: Oh, yes.

ANDERSON: So I'm like, oh, if it's raining or if it's snowing or if there's a blizzard, I'm a happy camper and I need to make sure I have good elbow pads on because I'm going to get the ball a lot in these conditions. This is what they talk about championship football teams being able to run the ball, being able to play defense in these conditions. Again, things that the Philadelphia Eagles can do clearly with McCoy. I mean, they're talking about the Eagles because they're playing tonight. But with McCoy and Michael Vick in the back field, hey, you know, these guys aren't going to be moving as fast if there are some conditions to deal with in the field, but they're still going to be faster than the other people in the same situation. So you've got to be excited about playing in these games. This is what football is all about, in the elements. And that's probably where Ed Rendell got it from. Obviously the Bunch article helped. But that's why I say we're wimps.

We play in anything. It doesn't matter. They never postpone NFL games. So I get the excitement from an old school fan.

ACOSTA: Well, Jamal, maybe they just didn't want Eagles fans throwing ice balls at Santa Claus.

CHETRY: You got a dig in there.

ACOSTA: But I've got to throw the flag for unnecessary wussiness. Jamal Anderson, former running back and all-around great guy, thanks for coming on this morning and talking to us about this.

ANDERSON: Always a pleasure, guys.

ACOSTA: Good talk.

CHETRY: And we have something to watch tonight. You're right, Jamal, thanks.

ANDERSON: Exactly. Tuesday night football. Let's go.

ACOSTA: We'll take it.

And a couple of feet of snow can be a good thing. Take a look at this video sent in by I-reporter, CNN I-reporter Andrea Waluck. Check out her dog Jack burrowing through the snow in Short Hills, New Jersey.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yikes. Bye Jack. Holy God. Jack? Jack? I see Jack. Sorry. Oh, my gosh. I don't know. Come here, baby. Come here, Jack. Come on in. (END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: He heard the bell.

ACOSTA: Yes.

CHETRY: It's chow time.

ACOSTA: Exactly.

CHETRY: He looks like the little dog in "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas." He was so cute.

ACOSTA: Yes. And as cute and cuddly that is, it's not a cute and cuddly situation out at the airports this morning.

CHETRY: No, it absolutely isn't. In fact, we've been talking about planes stuck on the tarmac for a couple of days now. We're getting word of another airplane stuck on the tarmac right now. This is at JFK again. Apparently they've been on that plane after landing at 1:00 a.m.

ACOSTA: Wow.

CHETRY: And they've been there all night into the morning. We're going to talk to one of the passengers live coming up.

It's 22 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

ACOSTA: Breaking news. Back to the tarmac nightmare at JFK, we're getting word of yet another plane that's been waiting to get to the gate for hours. Let's go now to Cristobal Alex. He's on a plane right now at JFK and it sounds like you've been stuck on this plane on the tarmac at JFK all night long. What's happening right now? What can you tell us, Cristobal?

CRISTOBAL ALEX, STRANDED PASSENGER (via telephone): Well, we finally pulled up to the gate. Finally able -- after a good six hours plus in the tarmac.

CHETRY: Murphy's law of live television.

ACOSTA: Yes.

CHETRY: We just were talking to him in the break and we had a perfect connection. Again, he's on his cell phone right now getting ready to de-plane. But he said they landed around 1:00 and that the pilot had asked at that point can they please get off the plane?

ACOSTA: Yes.

CHETRY: And Cristobal, the passenger that we're talking to said that the customs agents had left for the night at 1:00.

ACOSTA: Wow. Incredible.

CHETRY: And the decision was made to keep them on the plane. Let's try to reach out again to Cristobal. Can you hear us?

ALEX: Yes. Can you hear me?

CHETRY: Yes, you were breaking up a little bit. Are you getting off the plane now?

ALEX: Yes.

CHETRY: Tell us what it was like.

ACOSTA: That good. I guess we lost him. Well, I mean, this -- if he's in the process of getting off the plane right now, it's possible that the connection is going to be a little bit sketchy. So we'll try to get Cristobal back on. But this has been a situation for the last 48 hours at these airports. You not only have people who were stranded in the terminals, they're sometimes stranded on the airplanes sitting on in the tarmac.

CHETRY: Right.

ACOSTA: There was a British Airways flight that we talked about earlier this morning.

CHETRY: There was a Virgin Atlantic and a couple of other flights, a Delta flight, I believe yesterday, as well.

ACOSTA: Yes.

CHETRY: These people were stuck trying to take off. Now we're talking about people that were stuck on the tarmac after landing on a transatlantic flight. So again, clearly they have not solved the problems at the three large airports here in New York when it comes to, a, getting people off the ground, and b, even taking care of the planes that have already landed. So we'll continue to follow this.

It's not just airports, by the way, stuck underground for eight hours. We're going to talk to somebody who spent the entire night underground on a subway car because of the blizzard.

ACOSTA: Wow.

CHETRY: Twenty-seven minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: Well, it is still a mess out there this morning. Our top stories now after the blizzard of 2010 paralyzed the northeast. The snow combined with hurricane-force winds whipped up chaos on the roads with cars still abandoned on city streets and highways. New Jersey says it had to help 2,500 drivers, many of them post-holiday travelers who just weren't ready for snow at all. CHETRY: And three of the busiest airports in the country opened again this morning. Newark, LaGuardia and JFK airports all starting the slow process of trying to get things back on track. But more than 4,100 flights were canceled as hurricane-force winds and near record snowfall hit the New York City area. And as we've been saying this morning, it's still dicey at the airports. The flights are not necessarily getting out this morning.

ACOSTA: Yes and passengers are tweeting about their traffic nightmares, their tarmac nightmares at JFK airport. A British Airways flight that was sitting on the tarmac for seven hours apparently got back to the gate. That flight was from Heathrow Airport. And correct me if I'm wrong, we're now going to try to get back on the phone with Cristobal Alex. He is -

CHETRY: He was on an Aero Mexico 404 flight from Mexico City that got to JFK but they also experienced the same problem, landing at 1:00 in the morning and now just getting ready to de-plane. Cristobal, what's the latest?

CRISTOBAL ALEX, STRANDED PASSENGER (via telephone): We are now officially here. We just de-planed and are coming into the customs after six and a half 2 hours on the tarmac.

ACOSTA: And what was this ordeal like overnight?

ALEX: It was terrible. Basically what happened was we were running out of food and water. And the pilot came on saying he was going to be - he had been arguing with the folks at the airport to at least let the police come onboard to deliver some food and water. And I guess he lost that fight, nobody came on. And we moved up to a gate and spent another couple of hours at a gate, thinking we were going to come off. We never did. And apparently what happened was the customs folks went home at 1:00 a.m. and so everybody coming international kind of had to sit out there in the snow for, you know, all night.

CHETRY: That just sounds ridiculous that you guys had to go through that. Were people getting very upset on the plane? I mean, what was it like among the passengers?

ALEX: Yes, towards the end, it was interesting to see how folks reacted. Some of them clearly getting impatient, began hitting the buzzer for the flight attendants. But I have to say, I want to commend the flight attendants for their composure. They were actually quite nice and pleasant and had a smile on their face throughout the whole ordeal. So - it was a long night, but I'm just glad to finally be off that plane.

ACOSTA: Cristobal Alex, yet another stranded passenger out on the tarmac at JFK Airport. Cristobal, thanks for calling in. We appreciate it. Good talking to you.

CHETRY: More on the airports now as we get a sense of exactly what conditions are like this morning after the blizzard. We start with reporter Courtney Robinson in Washington, D.C.. Here's a look. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COURTNEY ROBINSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Over the past few days, we've heard a number of horror stories from stranded passengers and this morning here at Reagan National Airport, it is the same thing. People hoping to get out on a flight. A number of them spent the night here at Reagan. Others took buses down from New York hoping to get a flight out of Washington this morning.

I spoke with one man - he says it's his second day of traveling. He's actually going to go to three different airports today in order to get from Washington to Providence, Rhode Island. Checking the board this morning, though, it is dramatically different. Yesterday, we saw cancellations at nearly every airport in the nation. This morning, it looks like all flights are on time. Some good news for these passengers who have been stranded since this storm hit.

From Reagan National, Courtney Robinson.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: I'm Allan Chernoff in New York's LaGuardia Airport where both main runways are operating. The problem is, a lack of aircraft. So the airlines are busy rooting planes into the New York area. That means this morning the arrivals will far outnumber the departures. The people trying to leave the Big Apple, well, it's just more waiting time.

Back to you. Jim, Kiran.

ACOSTA: Thanks, Allan.

You know, many New York City resident residents, especially those living outside of Manhattan, they still want to know why they still can't get to work this morning. And they want answers from the mayor of the city Michael Bloomberg. The city last night said it may need yet another 24 hours to clear all of the snow. Many cars still lie abandoned. And even the city's normally reliable subway system was crippled with as many as 500 people stuck on the "A" train for hours without food, water or bathrooms.

CHETRY: Yes, it was a terrible situation on that "A" train. They ended up having to bring a diesel locomotive out of storage, I guess, you could say out of the garage.

ACOSTA: It's amazing.

CHETRY: To get to these 400 passengers trapped for seven hours, courtesy of the blizzard. No heat, no food, and in New York subways, there are no bathrooms. We're going to talk to one of the passengers next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: Welcome back. About 400 New York City subway passengers were stranded on the "A" train early Monday morning with a blizzard, knocked out the power. After several hours without food, water, or bathrooms, passengers were still stuck and ready to get off.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got off about 1:35 a.m. in the morning. By now it's 8:31. And just trying to head back to the Bronx.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have you been stuck on the train?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Seven hours, way too long.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: SOS.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: SOS, that kind of sums it up right there. Erin Durkin was one of those passengers trapped on that train. She's a writer for "The New York Daily News" who was trying to get home that day, that very long day after doing some reporting at JFK Airport. She joins us now.

Erin, thanks for being here with us. And so I guess everybody just wants to ask you the question, what was it like?

ERIN DURKIN, WRITER, "THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS": It was pretty terrible. There was no food, no water, no heat for most of the time, no bathrooms. Everyone was exhausted and just kind of trapped and had no idea when we would be able to get off this train, you know, we all got through it. But it was not a pleasant experience.

ACOSTA: So walk us through this. So you're riding along, you think you're on your way home and then suddenly the train stops.

DURKIN: Suddenly the train stops, the conductor told us that snow on the third rail had caused the train to lose power. They were going to try to fix that, but they were unable to do. They were going to send a rescue train, but the rescue train got stuck, and so we ended up being stuck for about seven hours in a train with no power and unable to move and unable to get off.

ACOSTA: We're looking at some pictures of - I guess these are the pictures you took inside the "A" train. These are some of the stranded passengers. And it looks like folks are in pretty good spirits. Maybe it was because you were taking their picture that they were smiling there. How did they hold up?

DURKIN: You know, people were definitely frustrated and were afraid. Everyone was pretty desperate to get off. But people stayed for the most part pretty calm. You know, some people got angry, got into it with the MTA people once or twice. Someone was banging on the windows at one point, saying "I want to go home." But for the most part, you know, considering the circumstances, people were very calm, stayed in good spirits, cracking some jokes, you know, trying to help each other out.

ACOSTA: OK. So they're New Yorkers, is what you're saying?

DURKIN: Pretty much.

ACOSTA: And here's the question that I have. You know, we're looking at images of a train that is outside. We see pictures of people yelling through the glass SOS. And so it sort of begs the question, why couldn't they have just cracked open the doors and allowed everybody to walk off the train? I suppose some people might be asking that question. Why didn't that happen?

DURKIN: You know, we were asking that question as well and we weren't totally sure. It may very well be a great answer to that. It could be that -

ACOSTA: It looks like it's stuck at a station right there.

DURKIN: Yes. It was for a while stuck between tracks and then it was in what I think was an old former station. A lot of people were wondering why can't we just get out? I don't know if it was because there was nowhere else for us to go from there. But that made it even more frustrating it wasn't clear to us why not just open the doors if the train can't move. There may be an answer to that, but I'm not totally sure what it is.

ACOSTA: Yes and having be a resident to the city two different times and riding the subways I can't even tell you how many times and I'm sure you've ridden the subway over and over again, being a reporter for "The Daily News." Does it make any sense to you as to why this train broke down the way it did and why it took so long for help to come?

DURKIN: You know, I think the fact that it broke down was pretty understandable. It's the snow, you know, these things happen. You can't control it. Obviously it would have been nice if there was so way to get us off that train in less than seven hours if there was some backup plan. I can't blame them too much, but it would have been nice if there had been some backup plan and a way to get us off.

ACOSTA: I supposed you were a little bit warmer inside the train than if you had been standing outside the train on that abandoned platform or unused platform.

DURKIN: Yes.

ACOSTA: But at the same time, you've got to wonder why was that train even running outside to begin with? Because in a lot of big cities, you know, the subways that are under ground, you know, inside can keep running during storms like this. But outside, sometimes those trains are stopped. And were you asking the question, why were these trains even running outside?

DURKIN: Well, we were grateful when we first got on that they were running. In fact, otherwise, we would have been stranded at the outside subway station at Howard Beach. So we wanted the trains to be running. I can't say that I wish that they hadn't run the trains, because we were stranded at the subway station before that, and before that it was at the airport. So I mean, I think there was just really not a whole lot of options. You know, there were no taxis, there were no other ways to get around. And we wanted the subway to be running, we just didn't want to be stuck on it for hours.

ACOSTA: Yes. Well, it sounds like no easy answers and definitely not an easy situation. All in all, do you think that they did the best they could?

DURKIN: I think that they were trying, at least at first. To figure out a way to solve the problem.

ACOSTA: You're being an objective reporter here. I bet if I were to ask some of those other passengers on that train -

DURKIN: You know, I wish they could have done better. I can't tell you exactly what they should have done. But people should not be stuck on a New York City subway train for seven hours. That's not the way things should work, obviously.

ACOSTA: All right. Thanks for summing it up there. Erin Durkin, a reporter for the "New York Daily News" and a former resident of the "A" train for seven hours. Thanks for being with us this morning. Glad to see you're safe and all in one piece. Appreciate it.

DURKIN: Thank you for having me.

ACOSTA: Kiran?

CHETRY: Well, these stories, though, unbelievable. This one little blizzard had us really crippled for the past two days. Jacqui Jeras is going to have the travel forecast right after the break.

Are some of these other people who have been stuck at airports going to get off the ground today? And what can we expect weather wise moving into the rest of the week. She'll tell us, coming up. 43 minutes past the hour.

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ACOSTA: There's a live picture of Central Park this morning. It was beautiful. I walked through this yesterday, Kiran. And it was just -- it was almost magical walking through that park. It was so still and so quiet and there were so many people, you know, out there enjoying themselves, taking the kids sledding.

CHETRY: No, it really was.

ACOSTA: And the dogs for a walk.

CHETRY: A couple of people noted on Twitter, it's not all bad, these blizzards. I mean, if you don't have to be in it, there is quite a serene calm to the entire city or tri-state being covered in snow.

And it was also a little bit surreal to go outside and see people literally cross-country skiing up and down the streets of New York City, as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

ACOSTA: Yes. Some people say that this is when New York City is at its best is when its shut down in a blizzard. I hate to put it that way. But just by walking the streets and enjoying the city this calm, it makes it kind of fun.

CHETRY: You don't have to duck out of the way all of the taxis.

ACOSTA: Exactly.

CHETRY: Although there were none to be found yesterday. You were very lucky if you got one.

Forty-six minutes past the hour right now. We've been telling you all morning about some of the problems at the local airports.

Steve Coleman with the Port Authority also oversees the airports here, joins us right now on the phone.

Thanks for being with us this morning, Steve.

STEVE COLEMAN, SPOKESMAN, PORT AUTHORITY: Thank you.

CHETRY: What's the deal with the planes stuck on tarmacs? So their flights come in, some of them landing around 1:00 in the morning. And we've had at least three or four different passengers on separate flights telling us about being stranded overnight and still in some cases waiting to deplane.

I think we're still looking into the whole matter. It might have been a situation where too many planes went in without enough gates for them. But we're investigating and we're going to see what might have caused this problem.

ACOSTA: And Steve, is that acceptable for international flights to come into this airport and get stranded out on the tarmac all night long and force those passengers to stay onboard those planes all night long?

That's just not acceptable, is it?

COLEMAN: That's not acceptable. And like I said, we're still looking it because we don't know if these airlines contacted us for help. We typically have buses and ways to move passengers from planes to terminals if we're giving notice they're out there. But a lot of times, the airlines don't inform us of the problem. So we have to check in to see exactly what happened here and that's what we're we'll do.

CHETRY: All right. In this case, one of the passengers told us firsthand from the Aero Mexico flight that the pilot contacted the police and said can you at least bring some food on here, we've been here for seven hours and that that offer was declined.

So in that case, wouldn't they be calling the Port Authority? COLEMAN: Once again, we have to look into the whole situation. So until we can do that, you know, I can't respond to any of these questions.

ACOSTA: And what about the call to reopen the airport at 4:00 yesterday afternoon? I mean, was the airport ready for the influx of flights that were coming in? Perhaps, would it have been a better call to say -- and I know this is hindsight -- to perhaps not have those flights coming in from those international departure points?

COLEMAN: Well, the airport was open, it was ready. We had runways and taxiway clear. But, once again, when it comes to these specific incidents that you're talking about, we still have to look into them and see exactly what happened before we can make any judgments.

CHETRY: All right. One of the other thing the passenger mentioned, though, was that people at customs were released. And so one of the reasons why some of these international flights may or may not have been held up is because they had nowhere to go. If they can't be checked through customs, where were they going to go?

Is that a consideration?

COLEMAN: It's possible. And that's why we have to look into the whole situation.

ACOSTA: And Steve, we appreciate you doing some yeoman's work here in explaining what happened out there and telling us that you're looking into it.

But safe to say that officials at the airport, officials at the Port Authority behind the scenes pulling their hair out a little bit this morning?

COLEMAN: I wouldn't say that. Like I said, we're busy trying to find out exactly what happened and to try to make sure that operations go smoothly today.

CHETRY: OK. Steve Coleman for us this morning with the Port Authority.

Thanks.

So he's either not at liberty or willing to say more. They're investigating. And so we'll keep on it, as well. I mean, I'm sure a lot of these passengers want to know what the deal is, as well.

ACOSTA: He did concede that it's not acceptable --

CHETRY: Right.

ACOSTA: -- to have that happen. I mean, that seems to be -- you know, sort of a given, right? I mean, that you shouldn't have planes stuck on the tarmac all night long. But I think it's going to raise the question as to whether or not these airports should have be opened when they were opened. CHETRY: Yes. So, I mean, you're feeling it on both sides. There was a lot of calls to get things moving and there's a lot of calls to say if you can't move, let's not preemptively try to get things moving.

ACOSTA: Yes.

CHETRY: Anyway, all of this turning into a big headache, as we know. Fifty minutes past the hour. It was the blizzard, mother nature, I guess you could say, that caused all of this.

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CHETRY: We're going to take a quick break. When we come back, Christine Romans is Minding Your Business. She's going to show us how to turn that gift card into perhaps some cold hard cash. Can it work for you? Coming up.

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CHETRY: Well, what do you do with those gift cards that you got for Christmas? I mean, if you, obviously you think you spend them, especially if they're from a store that you want to shop at. But, Christine Romans has an idea for you. You can really turn them into cash?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: You can. And I mentioned this yesterday and, you know, I got an awful lot of viewer response. So I wanted to tell you more about this.

You get a Williams Sonoma card, right, from grandma, because maybe she wants you to learn how to cook. But you don't want to learn how to cook. You really want to build up your iTunes library. You'd rather buy some songs.

There are actually places, auction sites, web sites, and applications for your Smartphone that allow you to convert your unused gift cards into either a gift card some place you want to use it, or into cold, hard cash.

Guess what? The broker always takes a little bit of slice off the top so it's going to cost you money. But because so many gift cards go unused anyway, $5 billion in gift cards last year, guys, went unused. The estimate for this year is maybe $2.5 billion in gift cards will go unused.

CHETRY: So that's just a double bonus for the retailers then, right? Because they've already gotten the money. Plus, they don't have to give up the merchandise.

ROMANS: Absolutely. That's right.

So, and now there's another way for somebody to make money, and that's the broker of the web sites. These web sites who are going to take a little bit off of the top so you can actually get the gift card you want or the cash. Here are some of the most classic juggle, card pool, giftcards.com. There's a whole bunch of them. A lot of different ones out there. Usually you get about 90 percent, 92 percent back. Not the full price. You have to have $25 minimum balance on a card to be able to use one of these sites. They'll give you a check in the mail or they'll put it on PayPal or they'll send you an Amazon.com gift card that you can use somewhere else.

On some of these sites to swap cards, so take your Williams Sonoma and I'll give you an iTunes. That's $3.99 to swap that. There's another one, Swag. It's a Smartphone application that allows you to just digitally put the information on there so that you're walk around with it like it's your wallet, so that you can use it -- when it's more convenient to use it than actually using the card so --

CHETRY: That's smart.

ROMANS: A lot of people really interested in this. This is the number one requested gift, a gift card. But we do know a lot of people don't know how to use them or they buy something they didn't really need or they didn't really want.

ACOSTA: This is a smart idea because so many people leave those gift cards lying around, like you said, in their purse or in their dresser or something like that.

ROMANS: The smartest idea is to use it exactly for what it's worth, you know? For sale merchandise, you get the best out of it. But --

ACOSTA: Make grandma happy.

ROMANS: That's right. Well, but there's also the spirit of the giving. If someone gives you a Williams Sonoma gift card but you decide, I don't want to buy a Crockpot -- maybe she wanted you to have a crockpot --

CHETRY: But that's better than what you suggested yesterday, which is Amazon sends you an email, saying, hey, do you really want this gift that someone's about to send you?

ROMANS: They patented that technology --

CHETRY: That's terrible.

ROMANS: They really patented that technology so that you will be able to return a gift before you ever see it. What does it come to? It's all a transaction. Life has become a transaction.

CHETRY: Christine, thank you.

ACOSTA: Thank you.

CHETRY: Your top stories coming your way just after the break. We're going to check in at the airports and all around the East Coast, hit by the blizzard of 2010.

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